Uber just bought a startup to help launch the company's first artificial intelligence lab

Uber made two big announcements on Monday: It is acquiring Geometric Intelligence, a New York-based startup, and using that 15-person team to help launch a new artificial intelligence division within Uber, called Uber AI Labs.

Uber AI Labs will focus on improving both ride-hailing software and the company’s self-driving car software, according to a blog post by Uber’s product chief Jeff Holden.

Geometric Intelligence, a 2-year-old artificial intelligence startup, will move its 15-person staff from New York to Uber’s San Francisco headquarters to help build the lab.

“In spite of notable wins with machine learning in recent years, we are still very much in the early innings of machine intelligence,” Holden wrote in the blog post. “The formation of Uber AI Labs, to be directed by Geometric’s Founding CEO Gary Marcus, represents Uber’s commitment to advancing the state of the art, driven by our vision that moving people and things in the physical world can be radically faster, safer and accessible to all.”

According to The Wall Street Journal, Uber AI Labs will start aggressively hiring and plans to open an office in the UK.